Frenzied London attack fuelled by steroids

Police units at London Bridge after the London Bridge attack in which two Australian women died.

The terrorists who killed eight people, including two Australian women, in last year's London Bridge and Borough Market attack were pumped up on steroids, a pre-inquest hearing has heard.

Brisbane nanny Sara Zelenak, 21, and Loxton, South Australia, nurse Kirsty Boden, 28, died when the three men ploughed into pedestrians in a white van on the bridge then stabbed evening revellers in the nearby market with 12-inch ceramic knives.

Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, had all taken a substance called DHEA shortly before the attack on June 3 last year, London's Old Bailey court heard on Friday.

A toxicologist will be called to give evidence at their inquest next year after it was found levels in their systems were above the acceptable physiological range.

The attackers were shot and killed by police at the scene.

Chief Coroner Mark Lucraft QC said he hoped the inquests would provide grieving families with answers and give "comfort in such difficult circumstances".

Jonathan Hough QC, counsel to the coroner, said the inquests were of great public importance and would be "full, rigorous and fair".

Some 1800 witness statements have already been taken for the inquests.

Among those to be represented are the security services, police, fire authority and ambulance service as well as the families of both victims and attackers.

The inquests would examine what MI5 knew about Butt before the attack, the court heard.

The coroner ordered the inquests into the three knife men be heard separately to their victims during the pre-inquest hearing attended by family members.

He said he would first hear the inquests into the deaths of the victims at the Old Bailey in early 2019 followed by a jury inquest into the deaths of the attackers.

Lawyer Victoria Ailes, representing five of the victims' families, said they were particularly concerned to find out about any CCTV footage or mobile phone film showing the attacks on their loved-ones.

Lucraft ordered that any applications for anonymity in the inquests, including from two families of the attackers, be made in advance.